We have been awaiting February 22 at this house all winter. . .the day of my son Sam’s Patriotic Play in his Kindergarten classroom. There has been much excitement about stovepipe hats, beards, Yankee Doodle, flags, and stars. He memorized the first part of the Gettysburg address, and when the day arrived, we were ready for the show. Adam and I sat in the second row, as the founding fathers (and friends) marched in. . . George Washington, Betsy Ross, wounded soldiers, Uncle Sam, and our own Honest Abe. What I was not ready for was my emotional reaction to the tiny voices singing the songs and reciting the speeches, word for word, that our country is founded on. What I was not ready for were the tears that filled my eyes when all the little fists reached to the sky holding glittery stars representing all of our fifty states. I was not ready to hear my tiny Abe Lincoln, recite in his little voice, “Four score and seven years ago. . .” We all recited the Pledge of Allegiance together. Under God. Indivisible. With a presidential campaign swirling around, here was the best message of all.

Whatever your opinion on the separation of church and state, there is simply no denying that there is a connection between politics and our own spirituality. Why else would we feel so strongly about elections, issues, campaigns, and candidates? We need leaders that will touch our hearts, provide examples to our children, inspire us. I was inspired today by seventeen kindergartners and their teachers. I remembered that we are one nation, under God. Looking at those shining faces reminded me that I will focus on the issues and the candidates that make this a safer world for our children, where they will feel protected. Inspired. Where they will always feel blessed to live here, and always respect those who have come before us.

I am grateful to my son’s teachers for providing him this beautiful afternoon, and I walked away from that classroom proud to be the mother of Abraham Lincoln. Proud to be an American, and grateful to be able to proclaim it out loud as one nation, under God